56. Egress
There was some part of Celia that still wanted to eat the piles of free and freshly struck down meat that surrounded her. One, because it smelled delicious. And two, because she was beginning to realize her own personal sense of self control was plummeting rapidly these days. And the only reason she didn’t give in to said desire was because she realized how bad of an idea it was. The very much dead plants around her smelled like a meal perfected. The scent they released struck at her senses like a hammer upon concrete.
It was entirely too perfect to be natural and was likely a trap of some kind. A trap that Celia desperately wanted to believe was just a simple lure to draw prey towards their doom via a storm of living plants trying to tear them limb from limb.
Sadly the more rational part of her brain was under the suspicion that the plants were maybe, possibly, poisonous. And despite whatever Vice was trying to tell her, Celia wasn’t so keen on eating poison.
Not yet at least.
It wouldn’t hurt to just find out you know. We heal by eating, and there’s enough of these plants here that we could probably develop a proper immunity. If they’re even poisonous in the first place, that is.
Celia ignored her.
Discipline did not.
If you are wrong Vice, and she dies, you are aware that we will also die correct?
I wasn’t talking to you spoilsport.
Yes, and I’m not particularly keen on dying young.
Celia, in spite of how useful her twin personalities were, was beginning to wish there was a way to turn them off. Or at least make them stop arguing for a moment. A few moments actually. A thought that quickly drew the ire of the two in question straight to her.
We are not twins. Vice insisted. The impression of a glare sinking into the back of her mind.
Yes, we very much are not. Discipline quickly added.
And Celia, unhelpfully, couldn’t help but think about how that was exactly what a pair of twins might say. And in turn earned herself a verbal assault that came from both sides of her mind. It was swift, it was brutal, and halfway through she stopped listening.
Attention diverting itself to her newest Modification.
Rebuke seemed… a bit overtuned. The amount of destruction it could deliver in a moment seemed so far removed from the relatively limited amount lash had been capable of before. Not to mention she still had her original tentacles, which she confirmed were just as powerful as before by splitting a rock in twine. A feat the upgraded version of lash was also capable of. Though, she wasn’t sure how much rock would be left after such an attack.
It probably wouldn’t be much. Kinda like hitting a mound of dirt with a bomb. Complete and total overkill. Hitting a forest with a bomb to clear the way, however, had a much greater appeal. And that was ‘exactly’ what Celia did. Swinging her newfound and enormous tentacles at the wall of trees that constituted the forest. Both to clear a path and to potentially eliminate anymore plants lying in wait.
A strategy she continued with for a solid ten minutes. Turning her journey of navigating through the forest into an evening stroll. Stopping only when she realized that cutting down huge swathes of forest had a much higher chance of drawing unwanted attention than a random fight did.
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Fortunately, nothing came. There was no sudden ambush, nor any predators that came calling. She was still, as far as her own senses could tell her, alone. Besides, it wasn’t like E-10 wouldn’t be able to find her anyway if he wanted to. And the only other ‘predator’ she was worried about was the giant crab that fought Jonas. A crab she was pretty sure was either dead or had retreated to somewhere far from here. Besides, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to hide from it either.
So after a moment or two more of deliberation, she continued making her path of destruction towards the swamp. Each swipe of her portal bound tentacles uprooting trees and carving up swathes of dirt. It was almost like she was making a tram road. One for herself and herself alone.
… She couldn’t help but wander what her father was doing right now. If he was even still alive. Or if the blast that had brought her into the Beyond and sent her on this horrible path had swallowed him as well. Or if he was at home wondering where his daughter was. She, obviously, hoped for the latter. But life had long since taught her that disappointment was a lot like rain. It came whether you wanted it or not, and usually without a care in the world for who got wet.
Celia desperately hoped that it was only her who got wet this time.
We should… think on other things, perhaps. Like our plans for if this whole “convince the crew to turn into an army plan” doesn’t work. Discipline not so subtly suggested.
Celia thought that was a great idea.
Unfortunately, she had no idea what she would do if her very hastily put together and poorly thought out plan didn’t work. She also didn’t really know if the reward on offer for killing E-10 was actually worth it. Especially considering how monumental a task it seemed.
But it was something. And again, she had the feeling she was going to end up in some sort of conflict with the hydra anyway.
She might as well get some answers out of the whole thing, right?
A thought that may have been an attempt to cope. But at least it gave her some direction. Something to do other than go insane, eat herself silly, and worry if her vision about the portal was just that. A vision, or rather a dream. Unreliable and completely false, born of desire and not an actual vision.
Hope begged her to believe that it was real. That it was something true and real. If only just for sanity’s sake. Sanity that seemed to dip a little when she finally cleared herself a path to the swamp proper.
Finding it in a state of small scale war.
Grey landmasses surrounded by fetid water. Which was then surrounded by tribes of living plant men wielding spears. And said plant men were waging war on another tribe of plant men. With the only difference between the two groups being one of smell. As, other than that, they both looked like a hodgepodge collection of plants given life and limb and grouped together.
Not to mention the whole, they were waging war on each other. Barriers of bodies formed and spears thrown. Plantoid warriors running at each other in the middle, as coalitions of living plants gathered about and formed giant runes to cast spells at each other.
Up until they saw Celia standing there and staring down at them, that is.
“BERA’NUUK!” One of them yelled. Instantly grabbing the attention of both sides. Causing all eyes to swivel her way.
Followed very quickly after by them all running towards her. And as they got closer, Celia slowly realized just how big the plant people actually were. Which wasn’t very. With the tallest amongst them only rising up to about half her height. Which was barely taller than most of the ten year olds she had seen in her life.
It also very quickly pacified her danger senses as she was sure she could easily eliminate almost all of them if she really gave it her all.
Then again, she hadn’t thought much of the parasites either. So, rather than waiting to be caught off guard, Celia prepared herself for a fight. Letting her self sink into the strange powers that had taken hold of her. A bit of metal ringing her skin, teeth growing from her flesh in erratic pattern, and a few portals cutting themselves open as a bounty of tentacles peered through from beyond.
Only for the tiny plant people to raise their arms up in the universal sign for peace.
“Ume eth gol! Ume eth gol!” They shouted, before coming to a stop just a few feet away from her.
And when she did stop, staring at them like a confused animal, they began to celebrate. The two warring sides joining hands and beginning a merry dance. Accompanied with singing in their strange and unfamiliar language.
Which was to say that Celia officially had no idea what was going on.
Though she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it either way.